Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to transmit data between a node (e.g., a transmission station) and a wireless device (e.g., a mobile device), or a user equipment (UE). Some wireless devices communicate using orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) in a downlink (DL) transmission and single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) in an uplink (UL) transmission. Standards and protocols that use orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) for signal transmission include the third generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard (e.g., 802.16e, 802.16m), which is commonly known to industry groups as WiMAX (Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access), and the IEEE 802.11 standard, which is commonly known to industry groups as WiFi.
In 3GPP radio access network (RAN) LTE systems, the node can be a combination of Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node Bs (also commonly denoted as evolved Node Bs, enhanced Node Bs, eNodeBs, or eNBs) and Radio Network Controllers (RNCs), which communicates with the UE. The downlink (DL) transmission can be a communication from an access point/node or base station (e.g., a macro cell device, an eNodeB, an eNB, or other similar network device) to the UE, and the uplink (UL) transmission can be a communication from the wireless device to the node. In LTE, data can be transmitted from the eNodeB to the UE via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) can be used to acknowledge that data was received. Downlink and uplink channels can use time-division duplexing (TDD) or frequency-division duplexing (FDD).
Future network deployments ensure that the number of frequencies is going to increase as a result of higher demand and newer technology evolving in wireless communication. The number of cells and frequency demand are almost certain to increase. Macro cell network devices, small cell network devices or the other such network devices having a smaller coverage zone or lower power capability than a macro cell device (e.g., small eNBs, micro-eNBs, pico-eNBs, femto-eNBs, home eNBs (HeNBs)) can also be introduced with dual connectivity features as specified in 3GPP Release 12. The user equipment (UE) (e.g., a network device, a mobile device, a wireless device or the like) can thus be capable of connecting two or more cells simultaneously.
In order to facilitate smooth network transitions (e.g., cell handovers, redirection, reselection, or the like)) with high a quality of experience (QoE), the UE has to have the capability to measure surrounding cells and provide related data to the network. In network deployment situations there may be many frequencies, some of the frequency carriers can be micro cells that have been deployed back to back in dense network deployments. However, the UE may not be able to switch to those cells as a result of a large load within the macro cell, for example. As a result of a large network deployment density, the UE may not be able to access these small cells depending on the location of the UE. If the UE misses chances of measuring small cell frequency carriers, it might not have a backup network available. Additionally, if it misses measurements to the macro layers, the UE may not be able to handover fast enough and a call could drop.